The present invention relates to devices for performing skin tests for an allergic response or for other diagnostic responses; it more particularly relates to an improved skin test applicator system which can be efficiently stored and which has reusable parts.
Skin tests are a widely used diagnostic tool for clinical allergy evaluations and, indeed, is a standard clinical method for demonstrating whether or not the patient has allergen-specific antibodies associated with allergic disease. The skin test generally involves applying a drop of a desired allergenic extract to the skin by either prick or puncture technique using a skin testing device.
One well-known approach to skin testing is to simultaneously apply different antigens to multiple sites on the skin. Such multiple skin tests are widely performed by a skin test applicator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,080 to Gary L. Hein, which discloses a plastic applicator consisting of a plurality of multiple pressure puncture heads integrally connected by relatively flexible arms to a relatively rigid handle. The entire applicator of the Hein patent is intended to be disposable due to the sterile requirements for skin testing.
The unitary skin test applicator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,080 has a number of disadvantages. First, a single use of the applicator exhausts the entire applicator, including the handle, which must be thrown away, whereas the only non-sterile parts of concern on the applicator are the pressure heads and skin puncturing scarifying points on the applicator. Secondly, the applicator is relatively bulky requiring shipment and storage in a sealed, bacteriostatic, individualized container which itself is relatively bulky. Therefore, where adequate storage space is not available, stocking large quantities of these applicators as is normally required by an allergist, can be an on-going problem.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the unitary applicator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,080 by providing a multiple test applicator wherein the test elements carrying the spaced-apart skin puncturing pressure heads are separately storable elements and are the only portion of the applicator that are intended to be disposable.